MUSIC

Anderson Fair presents Dana Cooper. 

“I’ve always considered myself an outsider as far as the music industry goes,” Dana Cooper says. “I focused on a grassroots career by making albums I liked and that I took to people by playing live. Now that’s what everyone says is the new music model, that you build a sustaining career by playing live and sticking to your own vision. If that’s the case, then I figure I’m ahead of the game, because I’ve been doing it that way for more than 30 years.”

Finding that balance between craft and art takes experience, and this is where Cooper’s lifelong commitment to his work shows: Having started performing more than 40 years ago at age 16, he owns an expert craftsman’s skilled hand and a dedicated artist’s constant desire to tap deeper into his own experience.

Cooper’s talent has been obvious from the beginning. Signed with Elektra Records in 1973, that talent has taken him around the world, performing regularly to enthusiastic audiences in Europe and nearly every state in the Union. Often accorded the accolade of a ’songwriter’s songwriter,’ his songs have been covered by numerous recording artists, many acclaimed songwriters themselves. He has been a featured performer on many prestigious TV and radio programs. His worldwide audience includes hotbeds of Americana music in Europe, where Cooper has performed at the Belfast Songwriters Festival and tours regularly in Sweden and Denmark, often with support from the well-regarded Danish band The Sentimentals.

Dana Cooper has not just been practicing art in his own way for more than thirty years; he’s been succeeding at it. A popular speaker and mentor at songwriting workshops, he’s become what elders should be: a role model. Having just created the best album of his career, he’s still showing others that inspiration and vision aren’t about trends, but about tapping into what you do best.

Photo credit: Emily Griffith.